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Abstract:

A method of selectively printing facsimiles on an image forming
apparatus, the method includes the steps of: receiving incoming
facsimiles on the image forming apparatus, each of the incoming
facsimiles having one or more pages; printing at least one page of each
of the incoming facsimiles; storing an entirety of each of the incoming
facsimiles in a memory of the image forming apparatus; selectively
printing incoming facsimiles by scanning the at least one page on the
image forming apparatus to retrieve the entirety of a selected incoming
facsimile from the memory of the image forming apparatus; and printing
the entirety of the selected incoming facsimile.

Claims:

1. A method of selectively printing facsimiles on an image forming
apparatus, the method comprising: receiving incoming facsimiles on the
image forming apparatus, each of the incoming facsimiles having one or
more pages; printing at least one page of each of the incoming
facsimiles; storing an entirety of each of the incoming facsimiles in a
memory of the image forming apparatus; selectively printing incoming
facsimiles by scanning the at least one page on the image forming
apparatus to retrieve the entirety of a selected incoming facsimile from
the memory of the image forming apparatus; and printing the entirety of
the selected incoming facsimile.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of printing at least one page
further comprises printing only a first page of each of the incoming
facsimiles.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising linking each of the entirety
of the incoming facsimiles, which is stored in the memory of the image
forming apparatus to the at least one page, which has been printed by the
image forming apparatus.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising selectively printing
incoming facsimiles by activating a facsimile retrieval mode on the image
forming apparatus.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising placing the at least one
page of the incoming facsimile on an auto feeder of the image forming
apparatus, and feeding the at least one page of the incoming facsimile
through an image recognition system on image forming apparatus.

6. The method of claim 5, further comprising verifying the at least one
page of each of the incoming facsimiles using the image recognition
system, and upon confirming that the at least one page of the incoming
facsimile matches an image stored in the memory of the image forming
apparatus, linking the at least one page of the incoming facsimile to the
entirety of the incoming facsimile, and retrieving the entirety of the
one or more pages of the incoming facsimile from the memory of the image
forming apparatus.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising deleting incoming facsimiles
from the memory of the image forming apparatus by placing a mark on the
at least one page of the incoming facsimile and scanning the at least one
page of the incoming facsimile having the mark thereon through an image
recognition system within the image forming apparatus.

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising: selectively printing
incoming facsimile data by activating a facsimile retrieval mode on the
image forming apparatus; placing the at least one page of the incoming
facsimile on an auto feeder of the image forming apparatus, and feeding
the at least one page of the incoming facsimile through an image
recognition system of the image forming apparatus; verifying the image of
the at least one page of incoming facsimiles using the image recognition
system of the image forming apparatus, and upon confirming that the at
least one page of the facsimile matches an image stored in the memory of
the image forming apparatus, linking the at least one page of the
incoming facsimile to the entirety of the incoming facsimile, and
retrieving the entirety of the one or more pages of the incoming
facsimile from the memory of the image forming apparatus.

9. The method of claim 5, wherein the image recognition system recognizes
at least one image on the at least one page of the at least one incoming
facsimile.

10. The method of claim 1, further comprising sending the incoming
facsimile data over a telecommunication line and/or a network connection.

11. The method of claim 10, further comprising a host device, which sends
the incoming facsimile data over the telecommunication line and/or
network, and wherein the host device and/or the image forming apparatus
is a facsimile machine.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of printing the entirety of
the selected incoming facsimile comprises printing the entirety of the
incoming facsimile except for the at least one page, which was scanned
into the image forming apparatus.

13. A computer program product comprising a non-transitory computer
usable medium having a computer readable code embodied therein, the
computer readable program code configured to cause an image forming
apparatus to execute a process for selectively printing facsimiles on the
image forming apparatus, the process comprising the steps of: receiving
incoming facsimiles on the image forming apparatus, each of the incoming
facsimiles having one or more pages; printing at least one page of each
of the incoming facsimiles; storing an entirety of each of the incoming
facsimiles in a memory of the image forming apparatus; selectively
printing incoming facsimiles by scanning the at least one page on the
image forming apparatus to retrieve the entirety of a selected incoming
facsimile from the memory of the image forming apparatus; and printing
the entirety of the selected incoming facsimile.

14. The computer program of claim 13, further comprising linking each of
the entirety of the incoming facsimiles, which is stored in the memory of
the image forming apparatus to the at least one page, which has been
printed by the image forming apparatus.

15. The computer program of claim 13, further comprising further
comprising linking each of the entirety of the incoming facsimiles, which
is stored in the memory of the image forming apparatus to the at least
one page, which has been printed by the image forming apparatus.

16. The computer program of claim 15, further comprising verifying the at
least one page of each of the incoming facsimiles using the image
recognition system, and upon confirming that the at least one page of the
incoming facsimile matches an image stored in the memory of the image
forming apparatus, linking the at least one page of the incoming
facsimile to the entirety of the incoming facsimile, and retrieving the
entirety of the one or more pages of the incoming facsimile from the
memory of the image forming apparatus.

17. The computer program of claim 13, further comprising deleting
incoming facsimiles from the memory of the image forming apparatus by
placing a mark on the at least one page of the incoming facsimile and
scanning the at least one page of the incoming facsimile having the mark
thereon through an image recognition system of the image forming
apparatus.

18. A printing system comprising: a hosting device, which sends incoming
facsimiles; and an image forming apparatus having a memory unit and a
print engine connected to the memory unit for forming an image on a
recording medium, wherein the image forming apparatus performs the
following steps: receiving the incoming facsimiles, each of the incoming
facsimiles having one or more pages; printing at least one page of each
of the incoming facsimiles on the recording medium; storing an entirety
of each of the incoming facsimiles in a memory of the image forming
apparatus; selectively printing incoming facsimiles by scanning the at
least one page on the image forming apparatus to retrieve the entirety of
a selected incoming facsimile from the memory of the image forming
apparatus; and printing the entirety of the selected incoming facsimile
on the recording medium.

19. The system of claim 18, wherein the at least one page of the incoming
facsimile is placed on an auto feeder of the image forming apparatus, and
the at least one page of the incoming facsimile is fed through an image
recognition system on the image forming apparatus.

20. The system of claim 19, wherein the at least one page of each of the
incoming facsimiles is verified using the image recognition system, and
upon confirming that the at leas one page of the incoming facsimile
matches an image stored in the memory unit of the image forming
apparatus, the at least one page of the incoming facsimile is linked to
the entirety of the incoming facsimile, and the entirety of the one or
more pages of the incoming facsimile is retrieved from the memory unit of
the image forming apparatus.

21. The system of claim 20, wherein incoming facsimiles, which are stored
on the memory unit of the image forming apparatus are deleted by placing
a mark on the at least one page of the incoming facsimile and scanning
the at least one page of the incoming facsimile having the mark thereon
through the image recognition system of the image forming apparatus.

Description:

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

[0001] This invention relates to a method and system for preventing an
image forming apparatus from printing unwanted facsimiles (faxes) in
their entirety, and more particularly to a method and system having scan
back control of a stack of incoming facsimiles for retrieval and deletion
of temporarily stored incoming facsimiles (or faxes).

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

[0002] Facsimiles (or faxes) are a telecommunications technology used to
send/receive copies of documents (facsimiles) using devices placed in
communication over a network such as a telephone network (i.e.,
telecommunication network) and/or Internet. Traditionally, when sending
documents to people at long distances or who are remotely located, fax
transmission has a distinct advantage over postal mail or courier in that
the delivery of the document is nearly instantaneous.

[0003] Fax machines enable the electronic transmission and reception of
facsimiles (faxes) to a recipient. Although devices for transmitting
printed documents electrically have existed in various forms since the
mid-20th century, modern fax machines became relatively widely available
in the mid-1970s as electronic sophistication increased with expanding
infrastructure and costs of technologies decreased. Over time, faxing
gradually became affordable, and by the mid-1980s, fax machines were
widely used in commerce. Today, fax machines not only include devices,
which are solely for sending and receiving faxes, but can also include
devices such as computers, personal digital assistants, and image forming
apparatuses such as multi-functional printers (or MFPs).

[0004] Although the technology has faced increasing competition from
Internet-based document transmission systems, fax devices still retain
their advantages particularly in the transmission of sensitive material
which, due to legislative mandates regarding privacy such as, for
instance, the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act
(HIPAA), cannot be transmitted over the Internet unencrypted. In many
countries, electronic signatures on faxed documents such as contracts and
other agreements are recognized as binding.

[0005] Fax machines typically consist of an image scanner, a
communications interface (modem), and a graphic user interface (GUI) for
the interaction of the user with the fax device. An image scanner
optically scans a document and converts it to a digital image. In
operation, a user places a page of a document to be electronically
transmitted onto the surface of the platen, enters a telephone number of
a fax device into a graphical user interface (GUI), and then hits a
"SCAN" or "SEND" button. The document is scanned into a digital
representation and stored in memory. The fax machine then dials the
telephone number of the recipient fax machine. Once the communication
between the sending machine and the receiving machine has been
established, the digitized image is transmitted.

[0006] It can be appreciated that unsolicited fax advertising and/or other
unwanted faxes (i.e., junk faxes) are very common today and can randomly
be sent by computer devices over the Internet and telecommunication lines
to multiple fax machines without much effort. It can be appreciated that
by selectively printing faxes, a reduction in total fax paper consumption
can be obtained as well as reducing the use of printing supplies
including toner, ink and/or other print material, and other natural
resources for faxes, which are not wanted or requested by the recipient.
Furthermore, a system or method as described herein can reduce the burden
of separating necessary (or wanted) faxes from those which are not wanted
when each of the faxes comprise one or more pages or sheets. Accordingly,
it would be desirable in accordance with an exemplary embodiment to have
a system and method for an image forming apparatus, which selectively
prints incoming facsimiles and faxes.

OBJECTS AND SUMMARY

[0007] The present invention has been made in consideration of the above
issues, and provides a system and method of selectively preventing
facsimiles on an image forming apparatus such that each and every page or
sheet of an unwanted facsimiles is not printed by the image forming
apparatus.

[0008] In accordance with an exemplary embodiment, a method of selectively
printing facsimiles on an image forming apparatus, the method comprises:
receiving incoming facsimiles on the image forming apparatus, each of the
incoming facsimiles having one or more pages; printing at least one page
of each of the incoming facsimiles; storing an entirety of each of the
incoming facsimiles in a memory of the image forming apparatus;
selectively printing incoming facsimiles by scanning the at least one
page on the image forming apparatus to retrieve the entirety of a
selected incoming facsimile from the memory of the image forming
apparatus; and printing the entirety of the selected incoming facsimile.

[0009] In accordance with another exemplary embodiment, a computer program
product comprising a non-transitory computer usable medium having a
computer readable code embodied therein, the computer readable program
code configured to cause an image forming apparatus to execute a process
for selectively printing facsimiles on the image forming apparatus, the
process comprising the steps of: receiving incoming facsimiles on the
image forming apparatus, each of the incoming facsimiles having one or
more pages; printing at least one page of each of the incoming
facsimiles; storing an entirety of each of the incoming facsimiles in a
memory of the image forming apparatus; selectively printing incoming
facsimiles by scanning the at least one page on the image forming
apparatus to retrieve the entirety of a selected incoming facsimile from
the memory of the image forming apparatus; and printing the entirety of
the selected incoming facsimile.

[0010] In accordance with a further exemplary embodiment, a printing
system comprises: a hosting device, which sends incoming facsimile data;
and an image forming apparatus having a memory unit and a print engine
connected to the memory unit for forming an image on a recording medium,
wherein the image forming apparatus performs the following steps:
receiving incoming facsimiles on the image forming apparatus, each of the
incoming facsimiles having one or more pages; printing at least one page
of each of the incoming facsimiles on the recording medium; storing an
entirety of each of the incoming facsimiles in a memory of the image
forming apparatus; selectively printing incoming facsimiles by scanning
the at least one page on the image forming apparatus to retrieve the
entirety of a selected incoming facsimile from the memory of the image
forming apparatus; and printing the entirety of the selected incoming
facsimile on the recording medium.

[0011] It is to be understood that both the foregoing general description
and the following detailed description are exemplary and explanatory and
are intended to provide further explanation of the invention as claimed.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0012] The accompanying drawings are included to provide a further
understanding of the invention, and are incorporated in and constitute a
part of this specification. The drawings illustrate embodiments of the
invention and, together with the description, serve to explain the
principles of the invention. In the drawings,

[0013]FIG. 1 is a diagram of a system, which includes a host device,
which sends facsimile data and an image forming apparatus connected to
the host device, which receives facsimile data in accordance with an
exemplary embodiment.

[0014]FIG. 2 is a flow chart of a method of printing at least one page of
an incoming fax in accordance with an exemplary embodiment.

[0015]FIG. 3 is a diagram of a method of retrieving a facsimile from a
plurality of incoming faxes, which have been received and stacked by an
multi-functional printer ("MFP") in accordance with an exemplary
embodiment.

[0016]FIG. 4 is a flow chart of a method of printing a fax from a stack
of received faxes in its entirety in accordance with an exemplary
embodiment.

[0017]FIG. 5 is a diagram of a system for scan back control of stacked
received faxes in accordance with an exemplary embodiment.

[0018]FIG. 6 is a flow chart of a method of deleting a fax from a stack
of received faxes in accordance with an exemplary embodiment.

[0019] FIG. 7 is a diagram of a system of deleting a fax from a stack of
received faxes in accordance with an exemplary embodiment.

[0020] FIG. 8 is a flow chart of an exemplary embodiment of a method of
preventing an image forming apparatus from printing unwanted facsimiles.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

[0021] Reference will now be made in detail to the present preferred
embodiments of the invention, examples of which are illustrated in the
accompanying drawings. Wherever possible, the same reference numbers are
used in the drawings and the description to refer to the same or like
parts.

[0022] In accordance with an exemplary embodiment, a system and method of
selectively preventing facsimiles on an image forming apparatus such that
each and every page or sheet of an unwanted facsimiles is not printed by
the image forming apparatus. The following illustrations describe the
process of this method and a system for implementation thereof.

[0023] The methods described herein can be implemented in a system 100
that includes a host device 110 preferably in the form of a facsimile
machine ("fax machine) or computer device, and an image forming apparatus
120 preferably in the form of a multi-functional printer (MFP) connected
to the host device 110. A typical structure of the system 100 is shown in
FIG. 1.

[0024] The host device 110 (i.e., facsimile machine) includes a processor
112 and one or more memories 114 for storing software programs 116 and
data (such as files to be printed). If the host device 110 is a fax
machine, the device 110 will include an optical image scanner 117, a
graphical user interface 118, and a modem for receiving and transmitting
facsimiles 119. In accordance with an exemplary embodiment, the host
device 110 has a facsimile section for facsimile receiving and
transmitting image data in the form of a fax job (i.e., fax data) to the
image forming apparatus (or printer) 120. The fax job includes data
representing the documents to be printed and information describing a fax
job. It can be appreciated that as used herein, a fax or facsimile can
include telecommunication faxes and/or Internet faxes, which are sent via
an Internet connection.

[0025] The image forming apparatus (or printer) 120 typically includes a
controller 122, an image processing section (or data dispatcher) 124, a
print engine 126, and an input/output (I/O) section 128. The controller
122 may include a central processing unit (CPU), a random access memory
(RAM), and a read only memory (ROM). The controller 122 processes the
data and job information received from the host device 110 to generate a
print image. The image processing section 124 carries out various image
processing under the control of the controller 122, and sends the
processed print image data to the print engine 126. The image processing
section 124 also includes a scanner section for optically reading a
document, such as an image recognition system. The print engine 126 forms
an image on a recording sheet based on the image data sent from the image
processing section 124. The I/O section performs data transfer with the
host device 110. The controller 122 is programmed to process data and
control various other components of the image forming apparatus 120 to
carry out the various methods described herein.

[0026] The input/output (I/O) port 128 provides communications between the
printer section and the host device 110 and receives page descriptions
(or print data) from the host for processing within the image forming
apparatus 120. In accordance with an exemplary embodiment, the operation
of printer section commences when it receives a page description from the
host device 110 via I/O port 128 in the form of a print job data stream
and/or fax data stream. The image forming apparatus 120 also preferably
includes an auto feeding mechanism or tray 127, wherein a user can feed
one or more sheets or pages of a printed image or document to the image
processing section 124 for imaging and processing.

[0027] The host device 110 and the image forming apparatus (or printer)
120 are preferably connected to one another via a public
telecommunication line and/or a network (e.g., LAN or WAN) 130. Examples
of the telecommunication line and/or network 130 consistent with
embodiments of the invention include, but are not limited to,
telecommunication or telephone lines, the Internet, an intranet, a local
area network (LAN), a wide area network (WAN) and/or a wireless
connection using radio frequency (RF) and/or infrared (IR) transmission.

[0028] Examples of image forming apparatuses 120 consistent with exemplary
embodiments of the invention include, but are not limited to, a facsimile
machine, a multi-functional printer (MFP), a laser beam printer (LBP), an
LED printer, a multi-functional laser beam printer including copy
function. In accordance with an exemplary embodiment, the image forming
apparatus 120 is preferably a color printer or a black and white (B/W)
printer. In accordance with another exemplary embodiment, the image
forming apparatus 120 is configured as a multi-functional printer (MFP)
device or all-in-one (AIO) that includes a printer section for converting
print data or fax data inputted from outside to image data and forming
and printing out the converted image onto a printable media, a scanner
section for optically reading a document (i.e., an image recognition
system), and a facsimile section for facsimile receiving and transmitting
image data to and from external apparatuses through public
telecommunication lines.

[0029] In accordance with an exemplary embodiment, a method and system is
disclosed, which prevents an image forming apparatus 120 from printing
each and every page of unwanted facsimiles. It can be appreciated that
the method includes receiving an incoming facsimile (or fax data)
consisting of one or more pages, which is received by an image forming
apparatus 120 and/or fax machine. Upon receiving the incoming facsimile
or fax data, and the image forming apparatus 120 preferably prints only
the first page of the fax and the data associated with the entirety of
the fax is moved into a storage (or database) in order to be kept until
retrieved and/or deleted by the recipient.

[0030] In accordance with an exemplary embodiment, the stored data (i.e.,
fax data) is preferably linked to the first image which has been printed
by the image forming apparatus 120, and which has been ejected and/or
placed on an output tray. The recipient (or user) keeps the printed first
pages of each of the faxes for use later. It can be appreciated that at
this point, in accordance with an exemplary embodiment, the image forming
apparatus 120 can save total fax-paper output by printing only the first
pages of each of the incoming faxes, compared to printing each and every
page of the incoming facsimile upon receipt thereof. In accordance with
an exemplary embodiment, the recipient (or user) reviews the printed
first pages of the incoming faxes, and separates necessary or wanted
faxes (i.e., those which need to be printed in their entirety) from
unnecessary ones (i.e., those incoming faxes, which need not be printed
and can be deleted from the memory and/or database of the image forming
apparatus). It can be appreciated that the incoming facsimiles are
preferably temporarily stored in a memory or database within the image
forming apparatus 120. Furthermore, the image forming apparatus 120 can
be programmed to delete the temporarily stored facsimiles after a certain
number of days and/or can be stored until retrieved and/or deleted by the
recipient and/or user (i.e., administrator).

[0031] In accordance with an exemplary embodiment, the recipient can
retrieve the entirety (i.e., the rest of incoming fax pages) from the
storage or data base of the image forming apparatus 120 by enabling a
retrieval mode or "Fax Action Mode", within the image forming apparatus
120 by pressing a corresponding button. Alternatively, the enabling the
retrieval mode can include one or more other means of enabling the
retrieval functionality on the image forming apparatus 120. The recipient
or user preferably sets the first page or first pages of each of the
incoming faxes, in which he/she wants to retrieve within an auto feeder
for an image forming apparatus 120 having a copier and/or scanner, and
scans the first page of each of the faxes through an optical scanner or
scanning system on the image forming apparatus 120. The image forming
apparatus 120 preferably includes an image recognition system, which
verifies the image of the first page of faxes, and upon confirmation,
matches the scanned image with the images stored in its storage (or
database) and links the fax data to the scanned first page of the
incoming fax. The image forming apparatus 120 retrieves the rest or
entirety of the pages linking to the images (i.e., incoming fax) and
prints out the whole (or entirety) of each of the selected incoming
faxes.

[0032] In order to delete unnecessary fax data (or incoming facsimiles)
corresponding to the printed out first pages (or at least one page), the
user can mark and/or cross out all and/or a portion of the first pages
(or at least one page), which he/she wants to delete permanently from the
image forming apparatus' memory and/or data base. Once again, the
recipient or user enables a deletion mode or "Fax Action Mode" within the
image forming apparatus by pressing a corresponding button.
Alternatively, the deletion mode or functionality can be enabled by one
or more other means on the image forming apparatus 120. The recipient or
user sets the crossed out first page, which he/she wants to delete from
the image forming apparatus 120 on the scanner or auto feeder of the
image forming apparatus, and the image recognition system or software
associated with the image forming apparatus 120 verifies the image of the
first page of faxes. Once the image forming apparatus 120 confirms that
the image or images match any of the images which are stored in its
memory, the at least one page is linked to the rest of fax data, and the
image forming apparatus deletes the rest or entirety of the pages linked
to the crossed out or marked out images.

[0033]FIG. 2 is a flow chart of a method of printing only at least one
page 200 of an incoming fax in accordance with an exemplary embodiment.
As shown in FIG. 2, in step 210, an image forming apparatus has a
functionality, which is enabled and prevents unwanted incoming facsimiles
or faxes from printing in their entirety. In step 220, the image forming
apparatus receives an incoming fax data (i.e., an incoming facsimile)
comprising a plurality of pages through a telecommunication line and/or
network connection. The incoming fax data comprises a fax ("facsimile")
having one or more pages. In step 230, the incoming fax data is moved
into a memory unit and/or a temporary storage area within the image
forming apparatus. It can be appreciated that the memory or storage area
can be an external memory in communication with the image forming
apparatus. In step 240, the image forming apparatus prints at least one
page of the one or more pages for each of the incoming facsimile data. In
accordance with an exemplary embodiment, the at least one page is the
first page of each and every incoming facsimile (fax). In step 250, an
entirety of each of the incoming facsimiles is stored in the memory of
the image forming apparatus in which the first page (or image data of the
first page) is used as an index of the fax data, and which is linked to
the rest (or entirety) of the incoming fax. In step 260, the entirety of
the incoming facsimiles are stored in the memory or storage area of the
image forming apparatus and/or alternatively external memory or storage
area until the functionality, which prevents unwanted incoming facsimiles
from printing in their entirety is turned off.

[0034]FIG. 3 is a diagram of a method of retrieving a facsimile from a
plurality of incoming faxes, which have been received and stacked by a
multifunctional printer (or MFP) 300 in accordance with an exemplary
embodiment. The incoming facsimiles 320 are received on the image forming
apparatus, each of the incoming facsimiles 320 preferably having one or
more pages. As shown in FIG. 3, at least one page 310 of each of the
incoming facsimiles 320 is printed by the image forming apparatus and
distributed to one or more users. The entirety of each of the incoming
facsimiles 320 is stored in a memory or storage area of the image forming
apparatus 120 for retrieval later. It can be appreciated that each of the
incoming facsimiles 320 are preferably linked to the first page (or first
image) 310, which has been printed via the image forming apparatus 120.

[0035]FIG. 4 is a flow chart of a method of printing a facsimile or fax
400 in accordance with an exemplary embodiment. As shown in FIG. 4, in
step 410, the "Fax Action Mode" or functionality, which prevents unwanted
incoming facsimiles or faxes from printing in their entirety, is enabled
on the image forming apparatus. In step 420, the first page of each of
the incoming faxes in which the user wishes to print in their entirety
are gathered and placed on an auto-feed tray or other mechanism for
feeding faxes and/or other documents to be scanned by the image forming
apparatus. In step 430, the image forming apparatus scans each of the
first pages of the incoming faxes, which are to be printed in their
entirety. In step 440, the image recognition system and/or a program
associated with the image forming apparatus matches or links the first
page of the incoming faxes with the entirety of the corresponding
incoming faxes, which have been temporarily stored by the image forming
apparatus. In step 450, upon matching of the first pages to the
corresponding entirety of the incoming faxes for each of the scanned
first pages, the image forming apparatus prints the entirety of the
incoming fax. Alternatively, the image forming apparatus may print the
remaining pages of each incoming fax to provide the entire pages of the
incoming fax by using the scanned first page as its first page.

[0036]FIG. 5 is a diagram of a system 500 for scan back control of
stacked received faxes in accordance with an exemplary embodiment. As
shown in FIG. 5, the system 500 includes at least one page 510 of an
incoming fax, which is scanned 520 and/or placed on an image recognition
system within the image forming apparatus. Each of the at least one pages
530 of the incoming facsimiles, which has been recognized by the image
recognition system is linked to a corresponding entirety of the incoming
faxes 540 and printed 550 in its and/or their entirety 560. It can be
appreciated that the incoming faxes are stored in their entirety in a
temporary database and/or memory unit 570, which can be within the image
forming apparatus and/or alternatively, the incoming faxes can be stored
in an external database or memory unit.

[0037]FIG. 6 is a flow chart of a method of deleting a fax from a stack
of received faxes 600 in accordance with an exemplary embodiment. As
shown in FIG. 6, in step 610, the functionality of the image forming
apparatus is enabled, which prevents unwanted incoming facsimiles or
faxes from printing in their entirety. In step 620, each of the first
page of each of the incoming faxes in which the user (or recipient) does
not wish to print, is marked with an "X", which extends across the first
page of the incoming fax, and/or alternatively, some type of mark or
identifier, which indicates to the image recognition system and
associated program of the image forming apparatus that each of the
incoming faxes identified with an "X" and/or other type of mark can be
deleted from the memory unit and/or database. It can be appreciated that
the user can use an "X" and/or any suitable identifier includes a mark,
symbol, and/or image to indicate to the system that each of the incoming
faxes can be deleted from the database. In step 630, each of the first
pages in which the recipient wishes to delete is placed on an
auto-feeding tray of the image forming apparatus. In step 640, the image
forming apparatus scans each of the first pages of the incoming faxes,
which should be deleted in their entirety. In step 650, the image
recognition system (and/or program) associated with the image forming
apparatus matches or links the first page of the incoming faxes with the
entirety of the corresponding incoming faxes, which have been temporarily
stored by the image forming apparatus. In step 660, upon matching of the
first pages to the corresponding entirety of the incoming faxes for each
of the scanned first pages, the image forming apparatus deletes the
entirety of the incoming faxes. It is preferable to provide a user with a
warning message to make sure if he/she wants to delete the entire data of
the selected incoming fax.

[0038] FIG. 7 is a diagram of a system 700 of deleting an incoming fax 710
from a stack of received faxes 720 in accordance with an exemplary
embodiment. As shown in FIG. 7, the system 700 includes at least one page
of an incoming fax 710, which is scanned 730 and/or placed on an image
recognition system and/or other suitable apparatus associated within the
image forming apparatus. Each of the at least one page of the incoming
facsimiles 740, which has been recognized by the image recognition system
is linked to a corresponding entirety of the incoming facsimiles (or fax)
750 and deleted in its and/or their entirety. It can be appreciated that
the incoming faxes in their entirety are stored in a temporary database
and/or memory unit 760, which can be within the image forming apparatus
and/or alternatively, an external database or memory unit.

[0039] FIG. 8 is a flow chart of an exemplary embodiment of a method of
selectively printing facsimiles on an image forming apparatus 800. As
shown in FIG. 8, in step 810, the method includes receiving incoming
facsimiles on the image forming apparatus, each of the incoming
facsimiles having one or more pages. In step 820, at least one page of
each of the incoming facsimiles is printed. In step 830, an entirety of
each of the incoming facsimiles is stored in a memory of the image
forming apparatus. In step 840, selectively printing of incoming
facsimiles is performed by scanning the at least one page on the image
forming apparatus to retrieve the entirety of a selected incoming
facsimile from the memory of the image forming apparatus. In step 850,
the entirety of the selected incoming facsimile is printed.

[0040] As an alternative embodiment of the present invention, the
selective printing and deletion of the incoming facsimiles can be
achieved at one time. For instance, non-marked first pages and marked
first pages are piled together and set on the document feed tray. The
image forming apparatus 120 may recognize the non-marked first pages and
the marked first pages to distinguish the incoming facsimiles that the
user wants to print out and the incoming facsimiles that the user wants
to delete their data. Basically, this can be achieved by conducting the
processes of FIGS. 4 and 6 with slight modification to add a step of
distinguishably recognizing the non-marked and marked first pages.

[0041] In accordance with another exemplary embodiment, a computer program
product comprising a non-transitory computer usable medium having a
computer readable code embodied therein, the computer readable program
code configured to cause an image forming apparatus to execute a process
for selectively printing facsimiles on the image forming apparatus, the
process comprising the steps of: receiving incoming facsimiles on the
image forming apparatus, each of the incoming facsimiles having one or
more pages; printing at least one page of each of the incoming
facsimiles; storing an entirety of each of the incoming facsimiles in a
memory of the image forming apparatus; selectively printing incoming
facsimiles by scanning the at least one page on the image forming
apparatus to retrieve the entirety of a selected incoming facsimile from
the memory of the image forming apparatus; and printing the entirety of
the selected incoming facsimile.

[0042] It can be appreciated that the process and method can be introduced
into the image forming apparatus by updating the firmware in the
non-volatile memory of the image forming apparatus 120. In this regard,
the method may be brought to the image forming apparatus in a form of a
package of install software and the firmware, which may be divided and/or
compressed so that the install software effectively installs in the
firmware. The package may be steadily stored in a computer readable
diskette, such as a compact disk, or may be transmitted through a
wire/wireless communication line.

[0043] The method described above can be used to print on paper or other
suitable printing medium such as thin plastic sheets, etc. The computer
readable medium, of course, can be a magnetic recording medium, a
magneto-optic recording medium, or any other recording medium which will
be developed in future, all of which can be considered applicable to the
present invention in all the same way. Duplicates of such medium
including primary and secondary duplicate products and others are
considered equivalent to the above medium without doubt. Furthermore,
even if an embodiment of the present invention is a combination of
software and hardware, it does not deviate from the concept of the
invention at all. The present invention can be implemented such that its
software part has been written onto a recording medium in advance and
will be read as required in operation.

[0044] Thus, as used in this disclosure and the appended claims, the term
"image forming apparatus", "printer" or "printing device" should be
broadly understood to refer to any machine that has a print function,
including printers, copiers, and all-in-one machines which have printing,
scanning and copying functions. The term "print job" and/or "printing"
similarly include both printing and copying, i.e., it refers to producing
images on a recording medium either from a data received from an external
device such as a host device or host computer (i.e., facsimile machine)
or from data generated by scanning an original hard copy.

[0045] It will be apparent to those skilled in the art that various
modifications and variation can be made to the structure of the present
invention without departing from the scope or spirit of the invention. In
view of the foregoing, it is intended that the present invention cover
modifications and variations of this invention provided they fall within
the scope of the following claims and their equivalents.